Martin Ellingham
Dr. Martin Ellingham (otherwise known as Doc Martin to the local people of Portwenn) is a former surgeon and now a G.P. to the fictional town of Portwenn. Prior to the series, he was forced to resign as a surgeon, in London, due to his haemophobia. He has previously been engaged to Dr. Edith Montgomery, and Louisa Glasson, whom he later marries. In the Christmas Special, Martin went on a two-week course for being rude. He also hates dogs. Appearance Doc Martin is a middle-aged man who constantly has a sour look on his face. He wears nothing but dully-coloured suits, and is always carrying his doctor's bag everywhere he goes, even during his off time. Personality Due to being raised by neglectful parents, Martin has grown into an emotionally stunted adult. He has problems showing emotion and is influenced more by logic, which has helped him in his profession to keep calm in serious situations and become one of London's best surgeons, but also makes him appear rude, blunt, arrogant, and anti-social. He is constantly vexed by the inhabitants of Portwenn, most of whom he views as incompetent, though as time goes on he he appears to become more accepting of their quirks. The only person with whom Martin has had a positive relationship is his paternal aunt, Joan. She acts as his confidante, helps him become accustomed to his new patients, and also acts as a voice of reason when Martin's aloof nature keeps him from helping people. When he arrives at Portwenn, Martin meets a woman named Louisa Glasson, who is his opposite in nearly every way and to whom he becomes attracted to and vice versa. Despite their less-than-successful interactions, the two rely on each other. Martin's greatest weakness and reason for coming to Portwenn is that he began to suffer from haemophobia during the surgery of a woman, after having seen her family clinging to her before the surgery. The idea that the person he was operating on was more than just a body, on a table, to work on caused Martin to have a nervous breakdown. Despite this, he remains a first-rate diagnostician, and is able to treat a far greater range of medical conditions than the average General Practitioner. Series 1 Doc Martin was a surgeon in London. He saw a woman whom he was about to operate on, and noticed how her family members clung to her. He was terrified to operate on her, and he was struck with the fear of possibly incurring severe judgment from the patient's family should he do anything wrong. This led to his development of haemophobia. He then becomes a General Practitioner of the village of Portwenn. He is constantly annoyed by the locals of Portwenn, and by his assistant Elaine. He falls in love with Louisa Glasson, a school teacher and member of the committee that interviewed him for the G.P. position. At the end of Series 1, he kisses her in the back of a taxi. Typically, he panics, and resorts to question her on her dental hygiene routine; she reasonably infers that he is implying she has bad breath, and pushes him out the car. Category:Characters